Blogging The Boys
Year one under head coach Brian Schottenheimer for the Dallas Cowboys ended at MetLife Stadium in a meaningless Week 18 game where both the Cowboys and hosting New York Giants were out of the playoffs already. As we continue to look ahead to year two for Schotty in 2026, this season will begin where the last ended – at the Giants. Already, the stakes feel higher for both teams in Week 1 than at any other point last season.
It will be the Cowboys’ second straight appearance to begin a season on Sunday Night Football, although last year had the distinction of being the league’s kickoff game on a Thursday night at the defending champion Eagles. This time around, it will be the Giants breaking in a new head coach, though hardly a first-time one as John Harbaugh makes the trip up from Baltimore to New Jersey following 18 seasons at the helm of the Ravens.
This offseason’s hiring of Harbaugh instantly added a heightened sense of credibility and competitive expectation that the Giants have sorely been lacking, and putting these things to the test against the Cowboys should be something they’re chomping at the bit to do. Week 18 last season snapped a nine-game losing streak for the Giants against the Cowboys, and things get even uglier for the Giants when zooming out further beyond that nonconsequential win. The Cowboys have won 15 of their last 17 against the Giants and 21 of 26 going back to 2013.
With training camp being the next big date on the calendar to evaluate all of the teams around the league, the consensus outlook for the NFC East remains that the Cowboys with Dak Prescott and Eagles with Jalen Hurts are still a step above the rest in this division. The Cowboys are banking on offensive continuity rather than any shiny new toys in the chest for Schottenheimer and Klayton Adams to keep Prescott in this position. The Eagles are the foil to this with a host of personnel changes as well as yet another OC being the voice in Hurts’ helmet, and the Giants and Commanders are both hungry to establish their young but injury-prone quarterbacks into this race as soon as possible.
Can the Giants be the latest team with a young, dual-threat, and healthy quarterback to make a meteoric rise in the standings, or will the Cowboys new-look defense be enough of a difference maker to stay ahead of them? How much concern can the Giants pass rush cause the Cowboys offensive line right out of the gate in 2026? Let’s look at some of these questions and more with our preview of the Giants at large.
* SIGNED IN FREE AGENCY
TE Isaiah Likely
LB Tremaine Edmunds
WR Darnell Mooney
OL Jermaine Eluemunor (Re-signed)
WR Calvin Austin
CB Greg Newsome
SAF Jason Pinnock
OL Daniel Faalele
FB Patrick Ricard
SAF Ar’Darius Washington...
